Academy director McParland and Borrell, who was Academy technical director and head of coaching, were told the club wanted ‘to change the way they do things’.

Liverpool have so far declined to comment on what represents a major overhaul of the Academy. A statement is expected to be released once severance packages have been agreed.

Manager Brendan Rodgers wouldn’t be drawn on their exit during his weekly press briefing at Melwood yesterday.

However, the ECHO understands Rodgers has been instrumental in the decision to restructure the Academy.

The Northern Irishman had already made changes at under-21 and under-18 level with the appointment of coaches Alex Inglethorpe and Neil Critchley over the past year.

Rodolfo Borrell

Now he has decided he wants new faces at the top.

The timing is certainly strange coming just days before the Merseyside derby and youngsters at the Academy were left stunned by the news yesterday.

Both McParland and Borrell were popular figures at Kirkby and well respected for the work they had done over the past four and a half years.

They were appointed by Rafa Benitez in the summer of 2009 as the then Reds boss sought to kick-start the conveyor belt of youth talent.

Spaniard Borrell boasted an impressive CV having spent 13 years with La Liga giants Barcelona where he helped develop the likes of Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas.

He started at Kirkby working with the under-18s and then the under-21s before taking up the role of technical director a year ago.

Huyton-born McParland, who had previously served Liverpool as chief scout, was entrusted with making sweeping changes to the club’s coaching network in order to address the dearth of talent emerging from the Academy.

The days of friction between Melwood and Kirkby appeared to have ended following his arrival with much closer ties established between the club’s two training bases.

His work also appeared to be reaping its rewards with no fewer than seven Academy youngsters making their first team debuts last season as Jordon Ibe followed in the footsteps of Suso, Andre Wisdom, Adam Morgan, Samed Yesil, Jerome Sinclair and Conor Coady.

The likes of Raheem Sterling, Jon Flanagan and Jack Robinson have also progressed from Kirkby to the senior set-up during his reign.

McParland was excited about the potential of the next crop coming through as he rated the current group of under-18 players, which includes the likes of Sinclair, Ibe, Harry Wilson, Ryan Kent, Lloyd Jones, Cameron Brannagan, Jordan Rossiter, Sergi Canos and Pedro Chirivella as the best he had ever been involved in.

As well as unearthing gems from abroad, McParland, a lifelong Liverpool fan, was also passionate about bringing through home-grown talent.

What’s clear is that he’s left the Academy in infinitely better shape than he found it.

Now Liverpool must find suitable replacements capable of building on the solid foundations McParland and Borrell have laid.